{ Monthly Archives } August 2007

Here’s another short from the The Secret Policeman’s Ball and also another movie featuring hands as a narrarive device.
Patrick Stewart and Joanna Lumley are the star voices in this film animated by Oscar winning company Th1ng, and revolving around the violence against women.
The director is Daniel Cohen.
Altro corto dal The Secret [...]

Turns out that Marie Antoinette liked the basket. Too bad she was the ball…
Heads is a short animation realized by Jellyfish Pictures for The Secret Policeman’s Ball, a show staged as a benefit for human rights organization Amnesty International and held at London’s Royal Albert Hall in October 2006.
Creative director: Matt Lambert.
Si scopre [...]

Each and every one of us has already competed against millions.And one.

Sperm cells in form of hands. Innate skills. Yes. The future is in our hands. But I use to call it with another name.
The spot has been directed by Carl Erik Rinsch at RSA Films. Creative agency: Leo Burnett.
Visual effects: Digital Domain. Editor: Valerie [...]

You may remember from last week, I talked about a different third episode of the animated series. Well, it turned out to be actually the fourth episode. So I’ll hold back and make a single posting next week, for the grand finale.
Oh, the making of? Interesting, but the guys have had their t-shirts censored all [...]

In the final installment of the Adidas campaign ideated at creative agency 180 Amsterdam, the All Blacks (with a little help from Passion Pictures) visualize the Ka Mate haka for the audience.
“The commercial mixes live action with animation as key members of the team (Richie McCaw, Dan Carter, [...]

Well I guess what they say is true,I could never spend my life with a man like you,I could never be your whore…

Every day, our lives make us face with excruciating choices. Which is the right one?
White Town is Jyoti Mishra, who sings and records dance music using synthesizers and samples. (Source: Song Facts)
Your Woman [...]

Ka-boom! Neil Blomkamp and Weta will take us on a full immersion in the world of Halo.
This doesn’t seem to be a trailer for the game, and it shouldn’t be a scene from the movie.
Based on what I read online, my guess is that this series of short movies should serve as a showcase [...]

A beautiful short movie realized by Koji Yamamura for Greenpeace, to raise awareness about whale hunting, that is still practiced in Japan.
Our hero is the principal of a primary school who will take action to do what his heart believes is the right thing; and in this, he’ll be of example for [...]

Oh, it’s a lot of time I haven’t posted some little bit of good propaganda… Cast: George W. Bush, Karl Rove, Donald Rumsfeld, and Tony Blair as Barney. Cameo appearance by Matisyahu. Behind the scenes: Dick Cheney.
The video has been directed and animated by: Violator Of The Regime. “This music video [...]

Here’s the story of Charlie, a robot banjo player, travelling in the desert on his twit-twit, will have to deal with a stingy old robot asking for a toll.
Twit-Twit is the work of five students of the ESRA Bretagne school: Benoît Guillou, Cecile Jestin, Jerôme Houlier, Baptiste Lemonnier and Fabien Dumas.
Extra [...]

Sorry, the little outage you experienced has totally been my fault. This is when you make too much changes at the same time. Then you don’t know which one went wrong…
Scusate, l’oretta di black out è stata solo colpa mia. Questo è quando si cambiano troppo cose in una volta sola. Poi vallo a [...]

Dreamhost is having severe networking issues, so no new posts for today, sorry.
In the meantime, you could check out the new works at Amautalab and Three Legged Legs.
Also, video makers could consider joining the Collect Project, an open source collective animation project.
Dreamhost sta avendo seri problemi di networking, per cui niente post nuovi per oggi.
Nel [...]

After the kind words of Anne at Ample Sanity, I should probably spent some more words on this astounding mix of music and images.
But it’s really as easy as click and enjoy. The only requirement: seventeen minutes of free time, to go through the full version of this visual [...]

I guess one day I’ll get tired of stuff floating in the air with scorn of the law of gravity. I guess some of you already are.
Anyway, this clip realized for the OFFF Fesival has some pretty good moves, and you should watch it, that you’re tired or not.
“OFFF 2007 Opening Credits was made [...]

It is dense,because it is much denserthe life that fights each day,the life that we acquire each day,as a birdthat each second is conquering its flight

Talking about maps…
The many rivers cutting the Brazilian city of Recife are like veins connecting more than meets the eye: history, past and future; traditions and generations.
Rios (Rivers) is the [...]

You could learn a lot about a civilization just by looking at the way they represent the world.
“Early maps were full of mythical beasts, representative of our awe of the unknown world. As science developed, these mysteries were solved, and maps, as well as life, became overly complicated and busy.”
“This is the story of [...]

NOTE: while re-encoding to MP4 I changed the aspect ratio from 4:3 to 16:9 because… well, because it looked the right one. Feel free to correct me on this.
Put together Italo Calvino’s The Cloven Discount, with Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and you may get close to the substance of this short movie.
Harvey [...]

A boy wakes up to find out that something really unusual is going on into his fish tank.
The Chemical Brothers are an electronic music duo from England, comprising Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons. (Source: Wikipedia)
The Salmon Dance is the 7th track on their 2007 studio album [...]

Animal shaped topiaries are floating and drifting in the sky, while we hear voices of people that, perhaps, are looking at them from the ground. Or maybe, they’re running after them with a stick, thinking they’re giant piñatas. Who knows?
This animation is the work of Sägas, that is Tomás Garcia and Fernando Sarmiento. 3D [...]

Sweet spot for Ford Argentina. What if just everybody would be able to fly?
The commercial has been directed by Pucho Mentasti and Franco Bittolo at Bitt Animation and VFX. Creative agency: JWT, Buenos Aires.
“Talent close ups were shot against green, everything else, including the flying people, are computer graphics.” (Source: feed)
The song [...]

So there’s this alien disguised as King Leonidas from 300. He meets the Alien Queen disguised as a girl with a Ferrari and goes with her for a picnic. No, I mean, really!
Animal Collective is a New York City based group of experimental musicians from [...]

Becoming the king may be nothing when you want to be a God. But… are you worth the faith and respect of mankind?
The third episode in the animated series from Ben Hibon, a little too much on the clichés, but still amazing.
P.S. You may have seen a different episode on [...]

Sony gives us another insight at the making of what looks more like a huge investment than a simple game…
In this third episode, you’ll see the work done at Weta Digital to capture the movements and the facial expressions of the actors, under the dramatic direction of Andy Serkis (Gollum anyone?) and the way [...]

“Karnival is a series of very short animations, mainly about unexpectable behaviors of unique characters. Sometimes it is just fun but sometimes it is dirty and dangerous! Episodes are released here bi-weekly.”
Here is the second episode. No comment.
Karnival has been written, designed and directed by Jun Seo Hahm. Digital composition by Loren Judah. Music and [...]

Jacques Khouri pays an hommage to the late Normal McLaren, where animation with colours and lines is brought to the third dimension.
Khouri is a current member of the SCAD faculty. His work has garnered him the 2006 outstanding achievement award in animation at SCAD, the 2002 Concordia Norman McLaren Award and the 2007 Animex [...]

Rosie (Nikki Alikakos) meets the Stranger (Michael Teh) on the Subway. She doesn’t actually talk to him, nor they meet again. Still, she starts a fantasy relationship with him which keeps growing and getting more real, even when a good and real relationship with Gordon (Steven Lock) appears on her horizon. Then…
I hope [...]

Not a good day on the net. First the webmail down for upgrading, then the ADSL carrier disappeared, and now even Blogger forfeited.
Non è un buon giorno, online. Prima la webmail chiusa per aggiornamento, poi sparisce la portante ADSL, e persino Blogger da forfait!

UPDATE: Jan Mathias Steinforth just sent me the right credits. Thanks!
Who’s born round doesn’t die square, but you can always learn from trial and error…
A beautiful work of animation and motion graphics produced at Psyop and directed by Damon Ciarelli and Marie Hyon. Designers: Mate [...]

Gnaritas Monstrum (The monster of knowledge) “is an animated piece where two young girls flee a terrifying monster. The monster corners the girls and they are forced to a difficult choice…”
The two minute animated movie by Seth Kendall won in the 2D section at the Siggraph SpaceTime Student Animation Competition 2007.
The original audio score [...]

Felipe Vellasco updated his site with his motion reel and works. So I can finally post this funny commercial!
The piece has been directed by Pedro Gravena. Creative directors: Mauricio Mazzariol and Pedro Gravena. Art directors: Pedro Gravena and Felipe Vellasco.
Editing and post production by Antonio Moraes and Felipe Vellasco. Creative [...]

I’ve been at the beach today. And this is (not) what I saw… Though the movie has been made in 1965, the world ain’t changed too much.
Intrigues, tricks, brawls (and a social commentary) all of that for a free place on beach.
Miejsce (Position), AKA The Beach, is a short movie by [...]

FPS Magazine has a great round up of all the movies featured at Siggraph ‘07 and available online at the moment. Have a look!
One of them is this “nicely sick” short movie, Respire, Mon Ami (Breathe, My Friend) by Ringling College student Chris Nabholz, which was also a finalist at the Student [...]

Ajit wrote: “showgirls from the silent film era shake their booty like the music video girls of today. Cool idea and very sexy.”
Cool idea, indeed. So cool that the pitch has been rejected by the record label. This is the official video, from which you can tell what they were really after…
Fedde La Grand [...]

Jurannessic tells the story of a caveman, likely the first genius in history, who is responsible for the invention of cinema, animation and pornography, and for the urban legend that wants activities associated with the latter to cause blindness.
This is one of the short shorts realized by Gobelins students as trailers for the Annecy [...]

After this afternoon frenzy, I think is time about to resume the series of posts about Attik’s campaign for Scion.
Some guy’s house has been invaded by an army of strange geometric characters, who eventually bite him, vampire style.
The spot has been written and directed by Paul Riccio and produced at The Sweet Shop. Director [...]

You thought it was over, ain’t ya? Well, there’s actually a second ongoing series of movies on Heavenly Sword, this one about the making of the game. I’ll skip the first episode, you can find it, as any other content I posted, on the official website of the game.
In this second episode, we’re given [...]

The gorgeous animations you’ve just seen are part of a series written by Jon Ashley and Bart Yates, that will comprise five episodes when completed.
The series has been commissioned by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, to promote their killer application for the PS3, Heavenly Sword.
Directed by acclaimed artist Ben Hibon, the series has been produced at [...]

In the second part of the epic story, we see the aftermaths of the battle: though the godsend warrior vanished, his heavenly sword still stays. All men battle and die to get their hand over it, until…
Stay with us, while Ben Hibon et co. astonish you [...]

And so was born the legend of the heavenly sword.And thousands will die for it.

In the first part of the story of the Heavenly Sword, humanity is on the verge of a great defeat. When the evil forces are taking over, a mighty warrior appear from heaven with his huge sword, and saves the day.
Ben [...]

No, I’m not posting about Noah’s Ark, even though we’ll stay on the fantasy genre.
Just this morning I was chatting with a regular visitor of the blog about the lack of new material. I didn’t even press enter, that I stumbled across the motherlode.
That was just to say: great stuff incoming.
No, non [...]

Another example of a video that only makes sense with a clip of the proper quality, is this commercial for beer where persons are assembled together to get a giant person.
The clip was directed by Zach Snyder and produced at Believe Media. Director of photography: Matt Mania. Editor: Noah Herzog. Creative agency: [...]

When I hear beautiful music it’s always from another timeOld friends I never visit, I remember what they’re like.

NOTE: The name of the file says “Preview”, so there might be (or there will be) a much polished version out there. Anyhow, I think the glitches (if not intended, which might also be the case…) are [...]

A nice Flash movie produced by South Park’s Trey Parker and Matt Stone, animated by Chris Brion AKA Crispy and Todd Benson. The short is part of a series based on speeches by Alan Watts.
Life and Music revolves around the Western attitude about life being linear, starting from the schooling system, with the obsessions for [...]

Mommy, bring your children to the museum!!! If you don’t have any, it’s time to get one. Watch the video to know how. I’m also available for private lessons. (Just kidding. Somebody I know could kill me, when she reads this…)
This beautiful spot for the Papalote Museo del Niño has been [...]

Another video I had in my queue for a while, but didn’t managed to find a decent clip for. Finally, here it is! Well, the file is maybe a little over compressed, but I guess it’s good enough. And I love the song…
The video is a joyful depiction [...]

Your name is something you can hardly get rid of. It follows you from English countryside to Hollywood, in good times and in bad times. Not even death can do you apart.
This interesting short (which I remember I didn’t liked too much the first time I saw [...]

And here’s the second part of the show.
Rocket Bros: two goofy rocketeers are trying to reach for a distant shore.
City of Good: Good and evil. Happy and sad. Like you have never seen them before.
Forlorn: A solitary man meanders through a desolate and barren land.
When it Happens it Moves All by itself: A plant brings [...]

As you could guess, I taken another day off. So, here it goes our usual look back at the past month:
Fantasy FilmFest 2007: Monsters are giving a party.
dim.: life size claymation!
Through Her Eyes: kids are able to see life in ways adults don’t have the time or even notice anymore.
Inside the Happiness Factory: meet [...]

He doesn’t look a thing like JesusBut he talks like a gentlemanLike you imagined when you were young

Love means never having to say you’re sorry, ain’t it? Uhm, well, maybe not… Anyway, enjoy this video. If you don’t like the music, just turn the audio off. Then turn it on again for the making of…
The [...]

Short animation featuring the work of renowned illustrator and skateboard deck designer Nathan Reifke.
The movie is part of the Fuel TV’s Signature Series, inspired by limited edition signature skateboard decks.
It has been directed by Neil Tsai at Stardust Studios. Creative director: Jake Banks. Animations by Kevin Ferrara and Daisuke Yamazaki.
The piece “tries to portray [...]

Short animation featuring the work of Cardboard Robot, an art collective led by Mason Brown.
The movie is part of the Fuel TV’s Signature Series, inspired by limited edition signature skateboard decks.
It has been directed by Neil Tsai at Stardust Studios. Creative director: Jake Banks. Director of photography: Jordan Levy. Editor: Michael Merkwan.
Maya was used [...]

A step by step, easy to follow, dumb proof guide on how to install an eco friendly light bulb.
“The 2 minute 30 seconds short film is cast in the medium of educational film from the 1970s, showing a man (Wade Kelly) and woman (Lisa Shurga) learning [...]

Based on the work of Serbo-Brazilian composer Suba (Mitar Subotic), the short follows a robot who invades the rainforest, opposed to another machine summoned by the natives. The story refers to the civil war in the former Jugoslavia.
The song is entitled Sereia and features vocals by Cibelle. It is [...]

What do the dead presidents on little coins say when they can’t be heard? Find it out in these two silly episodes of The Secret Life of Change!
This short is the joint effort of Cory Shaw and Ryan Flannery, produced at Secret History by David Simpson. Music: For the Love of Money [...]

A fascinating underwater animation by Adam Gault, illustrating in a far from accurate but visually stunning way some species from the Lanternfish family, as seen in this print.
The animation “it’s all 2D, done completely in After Effects with mostly standard plug-ins. Of course there’s a little bit of After Effects 2.5D to [...]

I played all morning with the encoder settings, so today updates will not be as rich as I wanted to. But this will improve video quality over all my posts.
As a result of my experiments, the MP4 clip for Me-I has been updated. The new one is much more faithful to the original Quicktime in [...]

Sometimes I Feel Like This is a series of (currently) two short movies by Eric Henry depicting cathartic situations that everyone of us has felt before. If you ain’t, you surely will…
Addition credits to Jim Coursey for music and sound design. As for me, I particularly identify with the Scream one.
A little note about the [...]

Apparently, when using the Cybershot photo camera from Sony, your head is subject to dramatic transformations.
This commercial has been directed by Stylewar and produced at Stink, London.
Creative agency: Fallon. Creative director: Juan Cabral. Creatives: Chris Bovill and John Allison.
Director of photography: Jallo Faber. Post Production made at Swiss International Ab.
Sembrerebbe che [...]

The origin of this project came from linguist, philosopher, political activist, and author Noam Chomsky’s statement: “Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.” Chomsky chose this sentence as an example of a grammatically correct statement that meant nothing logical.
After some research, illustrator and motion artist Kris Young came across a work who commented [...]

Where you learn that if you want to bake a brand new car at home, you’ll need: 10kg of white chocolate chunks, 3kg of orange peel strips, 30kg of brown almonds, and raspberry jam, raisins, cacao powder, margarine and lots of other stuff…
Chris Palmer (director), John Allison and Chris Bovill (creatives), John Pennicott [...]

Cake. And cream, and cherrytops, and everything you know it’s needed to make a nice car… Car?!?
Cake is a commercial directed by Chris Palmer at Gorgeous Enterprises. Edited by Paul Watts at The Quarry.
Special effects (that is the whole car…) made at Pennicott Payne. Creative agency: Fallon.
Torta. E panna, e ciliegine, e [...]

Hessi James might seem an harmless guy, but he has a secret deadly weapon! So, prepare to watch the most unusual western duel ever. Starting from the duelers being bugs…
Hessi James (Cockney James) is a short movie directed and animated by Johannes Weiland, written and voiced by Badesalz.
Note that in the German version, Hessi [...]

Production house Sehsucht have created this mesmerising spot for Konzerthaus Dortmund through the agency Jung von Matt.
The clip has been directed by Niko Tziopanos. Art Direction: Alexander Heyer and Martin Hess.
The title of the soundtrack is Kara Toprak (Black Earth) by Fazil Say. (Source: Ads of the world)
For more informations and credits, I’ll [...]

“Post hip-hop troubadour RJD2 teamed with dance and media artist Bill Shannon for the Work It Out video.”
“Born with a degenerative hip condition, Shannon developed a way to express himself through dance (and even skateboarding) on crutches.”
“Director Joey Garfield took to the streets of New York and captured one continuous shot of Shannon, injecting RJD2 [...]

There are twists of time and spaceof visions and reality,which only a dreamer can divine.H.P. Lovecraft

Natalie, like most people, is afraid of death and the dreadful uncertainty of future. In great despair, she visits a magical victorian house to see her future. She’ll get more that she went for.
Shadow of Time is a short movie [...]

“In this cinema spot, a dark fairy tale depicts the gruesome slaughter of the boring sheeple at the hands of Scion’s menacing little deviants.”
The video has been realized at Shilo Design for creative agency Attik. It is accompained by an interactive website called Book of Deviants. Voiceover: Richard Stanners. Complete credits [...]

You all probably know this video, but I haven’t been able to find a decent sized clip until now. Then, I realized that the name of the band was Justice, not Justine… Anyway, I want one of those t-shirts. Maybe two.
Justice is Xavier de Rosnay and Gaspard Augé, a French electro music act.
Their [...]

An earlier work from the author of Tyger, Into Pieces (Aos Pedaços) deals with things that really make you lose your marbles!
The short has been directed by Guilherme Marcondes, based on illustrations by Daniel Bueno. Sound design by Paulo Beto. Produced at Lobo.
Lavoro precedente dell’autore di Tyger, Into Pieces (Aos Pedaços) parla di cose [...]

Night on the beach. Him (David White) her (Giorgia Furbetta), the other. The other who? Well, that’s not an easy question to answer. Try digging at Obtusity.
Petrol is a supergroup formed by Dan Solo, bassist of Marlene Kuntz, by Franz Goria, [...]

Ehi di casa… Buona gente… is the finale from the first act of Gioacchino Rossini’s opera The Barber of Seville.
During the aria, to conquer the heart of the beautiful Rosina, the Count of Almaviva enters the house where she leave disguised as a drunken soldier. Chaos ensues, then Figaro arrives on the [...]

I was preparing something special for tonight, but I’m still not ready.
In the meanwhile, here’s a cool spot produced at Psyop and Blacklist, directed by Cisma and featuring the NFL player Troy Polamalu. Creative agency: Wieden + Kennedy, Portland.
Preparavo qualcosa di speciale per stasera, ma non sono [...]

Now that your back from your fantastic voyage, you should appreciate a stop at this underground bar where a cartoon version of Lily Allen is singing, flirting with the audience and referencing Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Mark Ronson is a music producer, artist [...]

Today, we’ll bring you to a a surreal journey through a landscape inspired by microscopic life.
While it’s not the first time I catch up on shorts with “random” imagery floating on a fluid background (most notably I remember Davey Jones’ Locker), none of them managed to mesmerize me and keep me stuck [...]

This was actually a series of random shots made during a foggy night, with no scripts or anything.
Back home, the director John Scott 3 decided to edit the footage and make something narrative out of it.
Me likes it.
In principio era una serie di riprese casuali fatte in una notte di nebbia, senza copione o [...]

Welcome to the dogs theatre. The tragicomic love story of Saturday Waits opens tonight…
Loney, Dear is the pseudonym of Swedish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Emil Svanängen. He has self-released four albums of music in his native Sweden. (Source: Wikipedia)
Saturday Waits is featured on Loney, Noir, his third album originally [...]

Some of my visitors may have noticed this post sunday night. I had to remove it for the usual reason: Apple Quicktime won’t play the MP4 clip. Whatever. Now this should work.
Well, actually here’s all about what meets the eye. Battles, stunts, explosions, and all you’d expect from [...]